Mitel is again offering to acquire fellow unified communications (UC) vendor ShoreTel, this time increasing its bid to $574 million. ShoreTel partners, meanwhile, aren't pleased by the prospect of a deal.

Rich Napolitano, who led development of EMC's successful VNXe and VNX2 arrays, is looking to take software-defined networking mainstream as the new CEO of Plexxi, a developer of SDN software and configurable, photonics-based networking hardware.

The small and midsize business (SMB) market (1 to 99 employees) offers many opportunities for driving significant channel revenue growth in the coming years. The challenge for VARs is understanding that companies in this market have unique business requirements and technology needs that are sometimes overlooked.